70 years ago today the 803 foot long Hindenburg burst into flame and crashed when attempting to moor at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey. 35 passengers and one member of the ground crew were killed in the inferno as the hydrogen gas used for lift in the giant, rigid airship was consumed in a very brief time.
LAKEHURST, N.J. – At 87, Robert Buchanan says he sometimes has trouble remembering what he did 10 minutes ago. But he can recall in vivid detail the day 70 years ago when he watched the luxurious airship Hindenburg erupt into a fireball.
Flames roared across the surface of the mighty German dirigible only 100 or so feet above him, singeing his hair as he ran for his life.
"It was a piff-puff, just like someone would leave the gas on and not get the flame to it," said Buchanan, one of the last living members of the ground crew waiting to help the Hindenburg land.
Seventy years ago Sunday, the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg ignited while easing toward its mooring mast at the U.S. Navy base in Lakehurst. The blaze killed 35 people on board and one person in the ground crew; 62 passengers and crew members survived.
"I ran quite a distance because the heat, the flame, kept shooting out ahead of me," said Buchanan, of nearby Tuckerton. "And I really didn't think I was going to make it, frankly."
The huge airship — more than three times longer than a Boeing 747 — was engulfed in flames and sank to the ground in less than a minute. Photographers and newsreel crews on hand for the landing captured the scene, and a shocked radio station broadcaster recorded the often replayed phrase "Oh, the humanity and all the passengers!"
The Hindenburg disaster spelled the end of the rigid airship. Here's an interesting description (with illustrations) of the luxurious cruising aboard the Hindenburg. And here's the spliced together newsreel footage with the voice of Herbert Morrison, a radio reporter for WLS in Chicago in one of the most instantly recognizable recordings ever made.
Pingback: Wheels within Wheels » Blog Archive » On this day in history
PBS’ “Secrets of the Dead” did a show on a theory of the cause of the disaster and there may be a overview at their website.
IIRC, failed ground paths of some of the skin panels caused the charge stored in the panels (from rain particle friction) to arc and ignite the metal powders in the skin panel doping which burned readily. The hydrogen cells then exploded due to thermal expansion, greatly accelerating the fire. Seems like modern technology could solve this problem.